12/21/24
December 19, 2010
Zack Greinke Traded to Brewers: Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar and pitching prospects Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, ESPN's Buster Olney reported Sunday morning. "That's a big chunk of what wasn't an impressive farm system in the first place," writes D.J. Short.
But...but...I was told that the Yankees were going to trade for him, and that everyone gives the Yankees what they want!
posted by grum@work at 01:27 PM on December 19, 2010
So Grienke goes from being a great pitcher on a sucky American League team to being a great pitcher on a sucky National League team. He must be thrilled. (Yes, the Brewers are better than the Royals, but not by enough to matter.)
This also makes the Yankees officially "losers" in the offseason. Awww.
posted by TheQatarian at 02:10 PM on December 19, 2010
They gave Greinke and an undisclosed amount of cash. Tell me....how does this help the Royals?
posted by kcfan4life at 03:31 PM on December 19, 2010
But...but...I was told that the Yankees were going to trade for him ...
Who said that? Conventional wisdom has been that Grienke and his social anxiety troubles would never make it in New York.
posted by rcade at 04:46 PM on December 19, 2010
Who said that?
Yeah, you might want to check your sources grum.
The general consensus among those worth reading was that the Yankees wanted nothing to do with Greinke, though some thought that was a mistake.
posted by justgary at 07:11 PM on December 19, 2010
They gave Greinke and an undisclosed amount of cash. Tell me....how does this help the Royals?
The extra cash was to help the Brewers buy out Yuniesky Betancourt's 2012 option, should they choose to do so. Without kicking in the cash, the Royals might not have gotten Jeffress in the deal.
posted by reenum at 12:18 PM on December 20, 2010
So Grienke goes from being a great pitcher on a sucky American League team to being a great pitcher on a sucky National League team. He must be thrilled.
Thrilled enough to waive his no-trade clause, which he wouldn't do for the Nats.
I think you vastly underestimate the Brewers by thinking they're not much better than the Royals. They had a down year last year, and it was a problem with pitching, not offense.
Since then, they've traded for Toronto's ace and Kansas City's ace. Assuming Randy Wolf rebounds to his career norms (something he seemed to be doing toward the end of the year), this is a pretty serious rotation. And combined with an offense featuring Weeks/Hart/Braun/Fielder/McGehee, I think this is a very dangerous team.
posted by rocketman at 02:57 PM on December 20, 2010
Without kicking in the cash, the Royals might not have gotten Jeffress in the deal.
My guess is without taking Betancourt, the Brewers don't get Greinke.
posted by rocketman at 02:59 PM on December 20, 2010
I'd say that Greinke's hatred of the limelight also played into his willingness to go to Milwaukee. Even if he's now medicated for the social anxiety disorder, I can't see him succeeding in a big market, where every move of his will be under scrutiny.
I'll be interested to see where he goes after 2012, because the Brewers won't be winning forever. The only teams who can fulfill his wishes of winning year in and year out are either in big markets (Boston, Yankees) or can't afford to sign him (Tampa).
posted by reenum at 12:09 PM on December 21, 2010
Those who underestimate the Brewers never take into account its excellent farm system. Maybe Greinke was just paying attention to what the future might bring.
posted by evixir at 01:04 PM on December 21, 2010
The winner in all this is Yovanni Gallardo who goes from hard luck losses as a one to being a pretty good 2 or 3.